After starting the 2020 season with five consecutive losses, no one could have blamed the Boyertown seniors if they’d packed it in for the year.

 

There were no championships to be won, no next season to use as incentive – and 2020 has clearly been more mentally trying than your average football season.

 

Instead, the Bears rallied around freshman quarterback Ryder Gehris, ending the campaign with consecutive victories over Pottstown and Pottsgrove – the latter coming at home Friday night by a score of 20-9 – leaving a legacy for the Class of 2021 and cause for excitement for the program’s future.

 

“I can’t say enough about our defense these last two weeks,” said coach TJ Miller after Friday’s victory. “They’ve taken it upon themselves in the latter half of the season to re-define Boyertown football – before, we were a triple-option team, now we’re a defense-first team.”

 

After starting the 2020 season with five consecutive losses, no one could have blamed the Boyertown seniors if they’d packed it in for the year.

 

There were no championships to be won, no next season to use as incentive – and 2020 has clearly been more mentally trying than your average football season.

 

Instead, the Bears rallied around freshman quarterback Ryder Gehris, ending the campaign with consecutive victories over Pottstown and Pottsgrove – the latter coming at home Friday night by a score of 20-9 – leaving a legacy for the Class of 2021 and cause for excitement for the program’s future.

 

“I can’t say enough about our defense these last two weeks,” said coach TJ Miller after Friday’s victory. “They’ve taken it upon themselves in the latter half of the season to re-define Boyertown football – before, we were a triple-option team, now we’re a defense-first team.”

 

2020 Mercury Area Football Leaders

 

The Bears rallied around seniors Zach Davis, who returned from injury with 11 tackles and a fumble recovery against Pottstown, Noah Segal, and Jon Myers in limiting their last two opponents to 15 total points in the two victories.

 

On the offensive side, Gehris’ first two starts were aided by traditionally strong Boyertown rushing performances, highlighted by Myers’ two best games of the season on the ground (38 carries at over five yards a pop, four total TDs vs. Pottstown and Pottsgrove combined). But for Coach Miller, the star of the entire operation was the former starting quarterback, Noah Segal.

 

“He’s the heart and soul of our team,” said Miller. “When we told Noah we were making the change at quarterback to Ryder, his first question was ‘can I move to receiver?’ No ego, no selfishness – he’s willing to block, catch, and he’s been able to help Ryder along the way in these first two starts. What he did for Boyertown football … I can’t put that into words.”

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After starting the 2020 season with five consecutive losses, no one could have blamed the Boyertown seniors if they’d packed it in for the year.

 

There were no championships to be won, no next season to use as incentive – and 2020 has clearly been more mentally trying than your average football season.

 

Instead, the Bears rallied around freshman quarterback Ryder Gehris, ending the campaign with consecutive victories over Pottstown and Pottsgrove – the latter coming at home Friday night by a score of 20-9 – leaving a legacy for the Class of 2021 and cause for excitement for the program’s future.

 

“I can’t say enough about our defense these last two weeks,” said coach TJ Miller after Friday’s victory. “They’ve taken it upon themselves in the latter half of the season to re-define Boyertown football – before, we were a triple-option team, now we’re a defense-first team.”

 

The Bears rallied around seniors Zach Davis, who returned from injury with 11 tackles and a fumble recovery against Pottstown, Noah Segal, and Jon Myers in limiting their last two opponents to 15 total points in the two victories.

 

On the offensive side, Gehris’ first two starts were aided by traditionally strong Boyertown rushing performances, highlighted by Myers’ two best games of the season on the ground (38 carries at over five yards a pop, four total TDs vs. Pottstown and Pottsgrove combined). But for Coach Miller, the star of the entire operation was the former starting quarterback, Noah Segal.

 

“He’s the heart and soul of our team,” said Miller. “When we told Noah we were making the change at quarterback to Ryder, his first question was ‘can I move to receiver?’ No ego, no selfishness – he’s willing to block, catch, and he’s been able to help Ryder along the way in these first two starts. What he did for Boyertown football … I can’t put that into words.”

 

The selflessness shown by Segal was eased by Boyertown’s never-say-die approach as a program, eschewing the opportunity to allow underclassmen to build experience in favor of maximizing the potential of the 2020 squad.

 

“We don’t look at ourselves within the season and say, ‘next year, we’ll be able to do this,’” said Miller. “We’re not looking at 2021 at all. That’s not fair to the kids on this team. It’s about what we can do this year to win.”

 

Miller doesn’t buy into the idea that ground-based attacks like Pottstown and Pottsgrove are better matchups for the Bears than some early-season opponents due to their familiarity from practice with defending those attacks.

“As a Wing-T team, Pottstown is showing up different blocking schemes up front,” he explained, “Pulling guards, misdirection… those are a lot of things we don’t do. Plus, these past couple weeks we were able to run our offense out of the shotgun a little more.”

 

“More than anything, our players stepped up to the challenge against two tradition-rich programs in Pottstown and Pottsgrove to get these wins.”

 

For Miller, it was the ideal ending to a season of ups and downs, but one that he’ll remember for the resilience of his players and their desire to compete.

 

“These past two weeks, our kids made a decision that we were going to dictate every phase of the game,” he said. “These kids have been through a lot – I’m happy we got to play football, and I’m happy we were able to turn things around – it’s a credit to our seniors.”